Moving to a new domain!

I’ve wanted to move to a non-WordPress.com domain for a long time but kept delaying it for any number of reasons (didn’t know how, too lazy, had to buy hosting, on and on). Since my brother recently started up two websites, I piggy-backed onto his hosting and finally made the big move. I was planning on setting up my new site after taking the USMLE Step 1 test, but it was so surprisingly easy to move that I did it during a couple lunch breaks. Today I am proud to announce ProtocolSnow.com. It is still a work in progress and is a soft launch (I am technically still on a blogging hiatus until after my test in early June), but it already includes all the content on this blog and will be my future home. Please update your bookmarks and RSS feeds accordingly, check out the site, and let me know what you think. Thank you all who have visited my blog over the past 2 years!

This WordPress.com blog will be discontinued, effective immediately. I’m not sure what’s the best way to shut down this blog because I’m worried that it will be siphoning Google search traffic from my new site. I was tentatively thinking about deleting all the entries and hoping Google would figure out that the same content is on a different site, but I think for now I’m just going to disable commenting, let this be my farewell post, and let this blog slowly fade into obscurity. If you have any advice about shutting down blogs, please head on over to ProtocolSnow.com and let me know!

And the achievements keep on rolling in

Yet another break in my blogging hiatus — I feel like I have a new gig doing public relations for my brother! He was selected as one of the twenty students in USA Today’s 2009 All-USA College Academic First Team. This is the self-submitted photo gallery. I’ve been trying to keep my name relatively hidden on this blog so I won’t say my/his last name outright (though I guess anybody who’s really interested can search for me considering I used to write for gaming websites). But if you’ve read my blog for any period of time, it should be obvious which one he is.

I personally feel he has the best photo out of the 20, though that wouldn’t have been my first pick out of the dozens of photos he showed me. By the way, I love the photo for the Johns Hopkins guy (my alma mater). It’s a beautiful campus but his photo perfectly captures how there’s practically more brick walkways on campus than grass! Anyway, big congrats to all. I believe this is in today’s edition of USA Today, I have to run out and buy it!

UPDATE: Ah, screw anonymity. My brother recently launched two websites and I’m going to help him out by linking them here. First is his personal professional page about his education at Harvard and research projects. The other is a company he is starting called Ivy Writing (website still under development), which helps edit applications for students applying to college/grad school. He has a lot of experience with editing and consultation already and, well, his successes so far speak for how well qualified he is for this work. His company should be launching in a couple weeks!

Congratulations to my bro!

Hey folks, I’m breaking my blogging hiatus briefly with some great news: my brother was accepted to Harvard Medical School, MD-PhD program! Not only will medical school be free for him (I’m going to be saddled with all kinds of loans when I graduate med school), but he’ll be PAID. This is awesome timing for him as well with Barack Obama’s recent legislation on stem cell research, which my brother has big dreams for. Research really isn’t my thing — I’m doing a poster presentation at a research fair in a couple weeks, but that’ll probably be my last experience with research =P

But this is great timing for me as well, a kick-in-the-pants motivator with the USMLE Step 1 less than 3 months away. I’m slipping back into blogging silence after this post, but if you haven’t noticed on the sidebar, I’ve set up a twitter account which I’ve been updating pretty regularly. Keep up with my mundane updates that way if you wish, and I’ll be returning to blogging status in June! If all goes well, I’ll find a new WordPress design because this very stark, minimalist design is too boring for me.

Eye of the Tiger

So with this flurry of blog posts in the past few days, it’s time for me to take a break. I have less than 5 months until I take the USMLE Step 1 exam, possibly the most important test of my medical career. As I mentioned a while back, I will be taking a blogging break until then so I have one less thing to distract me. I will, however, still be visiting my usual sites so don’t be surprised if I stop by and drop a comment (I can’t study all day after all).

My schedule for the next half year or so: finish the 2nd year of med school strong, prepare for the test in early June, attend my brother’s graduation at Harvard, come back to school for hospital orientation, and then a vacation at an undecided location. Take care, and see you in the summer!

CUT

I’m not quite sure how and when I first learned about Wolfgang Puck’s signature steakhouse named CUT, but it seems like I’ve been hearing its name every other week for the past year. Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Will Smith, and Jada Pinkett Smith were photographed having a double date there last year, it was the setting for a lunch meeting in a recent Entourage episode, Adam Carolla on his radio show/podcast talked about his encounter there with a couple The Hills stars in December, on and on, not to mention all the food blog reviews I’ve encountered. CUT is a very hot restaurant, to say the least, and for quite a while, I’ve been looking forward to eating here with its genuine Japanese Wagyu steaks (think: Kobe beef). I made reservations a month in advance!

PS3 impressions

I leave all my consoles at home so whenever I go back to Los Angeles for Christmas break, there’s typically the “big game” of the year that I can’t wait to play. For 2007, it was Halo 3 and Mass Effect. 2006: Gears of War. And so on. For 2008, I was expecting it to be Metal Gear Solid 4, Grand Theft Auto 4, and Gears of War 2. However, lately I have become so weary of investing time into single player campaigns (and gaming in general) that I ended up playing none of these. Instead, Geometry Wars 2 and Super Street Fighter II Turbo: HD Remix were my games of choice this holiday when I did sit in front of the TV, both supremely excellent titles on Xbox Live Arcade.

But I’m here to talk about my first experiences with the PS3. When the Metal Gear Solid 4 bundles were first announced almost a year ago, I was excited about the PS3 finally having an appealing bundle/deal. However, I wound up talking myself out of buying the system. It wasn’t until Amazon restocked the limited edition Gunmetal MGS4 system for $200 off the original price that I was convinced and bought the PS3 in November.

Toto Washlet S400

The ramifications of yesterday’s mass firing at 1up are still reverberating. I am acutely conscious of how awkward it is to be posting about a luxury toilet when so many people, some of whom I’ve interacted with for years, are now jobless. But you might have noticed an unusually high number of posts lately, and that’s because I’m trying to push them all out before I take a blogging hiatus. I have several more that will be posted today/tomorrow, then I’ll be officially taking a break.

I had planned to post about the Toto Washlet a few weeks ago when I returned to my Los Angeles home. These washlets aren’t that common in the U.S. and are probably best known as those “crazy Japanese toilets that spray water at your butt”. They’re everywhere in Japan restrooms, of course, but they’re also fairly common in Taiwan and I’m sure in other Asian countries. My uncle has had these toilets in his Taiwan house for a few years, which was an inspiration for my family to install them.

Farewell 1up

Wow. With the buyout of 1up.com and many Ziff Davis properties by Hearst, scores of Ziff employees have been suddenly laid off. A very harsh reminder of what a volatile and shaky industry videogame journalism is. I wish the best to all their staff. I’ve personally met only a couple of their writers years back when I was writing for GamerFeed/GameDaily, but I’ve long enjoyed the articles and podcasts by the group. They have a talented ensemble over there. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the staff banded together and created a GiantBomb.com-like resurrection.

Coincidentally, I was giving a classmate a ride home literally this afternoon when he asked me completely out of the blue whether I still worked for “that videogame company”. I could only wistfully reply, “Nah, that was in a former life.” Writing about videogames was never a serious career I had considered for a second and I did it only for my own entertainment, but nonetheless I still spent many hours dedicated to the company and got to enjoy many very cool experiences as a reward. It had provided many unforgettable memories. I’m sure the 1up.com staff are now feeling the same way looking back.